So Thursday started out with me beginning to pack my clothes that I am not going to need for the rest of the mission or when traveling. I noticed that the last thing that went into the bag was my extra suit with my name tag and it seemed like a perfect picture to show packing. Later after going into the office for the morning to work with elder and sister Singleton, I stayed home and begin the packing of the kitchen while Mary went back do some more training with sister Singleton.

The pictures are in reverse order but I way too lazy to change them. Sisters Johnson and Forbush came in to talk to elder Bare and stopped to talk to sister Collins. From the look on her face, I think Sister Forbush is adjusting well to the mission. Two other sister companionships came in and it is obvious that sister Gordon is getting great training on going for the snacks from her trainer sister Dougal. Sisters Merrill and Stegelmeier are long past that training. We are going to miss all of these sisters…

As I mentioned the pictures are reversed so the first one you should have seen was the one with us all being proper missionaries. Speaking of proper missionaries, The APs assisted by elder Silva who had to wait at the office for an afternoon flight home to Peru, sang a song in Spanish for me. I thought that I had shot a video of it but missed it and only got a picture…It would have gone viral on UTube for sure.

Thursday morning is stressful for the APs as they have to call each Zone and ask for who is probably going to get baptized on Sunday. They only want the name and ages of those who the missionaries really think will be baptized. They are graded on a scale of from 1-5 with 5 being almost certain. The APs then report the 4-5 possible baptisms to President Anderson.

 

This is the first time elder Plowman got to be on the asking side of the conversation. In the past he has been one of the ZLs that needed to report. 5 great missionaries together for about the last time. A few hours after I took this picture elder Silva was winging his way to New York on the way home to Peru…that is right he had to fly 1200 miles North and then fly the same 1200 miles back South some hours later to get him to Peru at a reasonable time. I am glad I do not work in mission travel – they do amazing things.

 

On Thursday night the missionaries who will depart for home tomorrow come to the mission home as soon as they get back from the temple. Since we will leave before the next group will depart we were invited to this one.

We arrived early and were able to help prepare dinner…that is another last as we have had the chance to do this a number of times for different events. It is always fun to work with sister Anderson as she gets ready to serve another meal to 10 to 80 people.

Unfortunately I left my camera plugged into the computer at home because I downloaded all the pictures from earlier in the day. I would have run home and got it but we were needed. But when the missionaries arrived E/S McCormick were kind enough to let me use their phone to take at least a few pictures. So the event did not go completely unrecorded! I think I will ask some of the missionaries who went home to share some of their pictures with me.

As soon as the departing missionaries arrive at the mission home, there is a blessing on the food and they dig in. Elder Edwards’ mother will be happy to see he is getting salad before he hits the meat and starches. Elders Silva, Chamberlain, Maki, Edwards, and a wide smiling Kata are ready to get started filling their plates.

The two B’s that are finishing their mission, Elder Beer and Sister Beck pose for their picture. Elder Dowdle carries his heaping plate of food while elder Chinchilla can be seen in the back ground.

The letter reading group grew to three when sister Andrus joined them. We have had the great experience of serving near both sisters for much of our mission. President Anderson watches over the food while sister Collins helps out. The Collins have been busy almost everyday for weeks as they try to find housing for all the new companionships. Then they have to fill them with furniture, and everything else the missionaries will need. They are an amazing couple who have served for at least 3 years and are planning to continue serving as the housing couple. We will miss them very much.

Elder Silva and Sister Lake get their food…I can testify that those rolls in front of sister Lake are wonderful. Even though I am trying to keep my weight down, I can not pass up the rolls. Elder Beer continued to attract the sisters…now the party includes sister Lake.

 

I am not sure if Mary was guarding the salad bowl or making sure each missionary had something green on their plate besides delicious green beans.

After dinner we gathered in the living room and President Anderson asked each missionary to share a special spiritual experience that they had on their mission. It was very interesting and spiritually uplifting to hear how they were led by the spirit to special people who the Lord had prepared to hear the gospel from them.

Then it was time for a departing group picture before we had final hugs and goodbyes. Hopefully we will be able to see some of these great missionaries again after we get home. But no matter where we are the memory of their great spirits and friendships will be in our hearts.